Williams Partners net income slips 13% in 2013

20 Feb '14

4 min read

Williams Partners L.P. announced unaudited 2013 net income of $1.07 billion, or $1.45 per common limited-partner unit, compared with 2012 net income of $1.23 billion, or $1.89 per common limited-partner unit.

The $165 million decrease in 2013 net income was primarily due to $297 million or 39 percent lower natural gas liquid (NGL) margins as well as lost production at the Geismar olefins plant in the third and fourth quarters. The decrease was partially offset by a $209 million, or 8 percent, increase in fee-based revenues and by $50 million of initial insurance recoveries related to the Geismar incident.

For fourth-quarter 2013, Williams Partners reported net income of $211 million, or $0.12 per common limited-partner unit, compared with $291 million, or $0.42 per common limited-partner unit, for fourth-quarter 2012.

The $80 million decrease in fourth-quarter net income was primarily due to $77 million in lost production at the Geismar olefins plant as well as $43 million or 28 percent lower NGL margins. In addition, certain settlement resolutions and higher operating costs related to our rapidly growing Northeast G&P segment reduced net income.

The decrease was offset by a $58 million, or 8 percent, increase in fee-based revenues as well as the absence of allocated reorganization-related costs in 2012.

There is a more detailed analysis of the partnership's businesses later in this news release. Prior-period results throughout this release have been recast to include the results of the Geismar olefins production facility acquired from Williams in November 2012 and to reflect the revised segment reporting resulting from the organizational restructuring effective Jan. 1, 2013.

Distributable Cash Flow & Distributions

For 2013, Williams Partners generated $1.77 billion in DCF attributable to partnership operations, compared with $1.49 billion in DCF attributable to partnership operations in 2012.

For the fourth quarter of 2013, Williams Partners generated $509 million in DCF attributable to partnership operations, compared with $405 million for the fourth quarter of 2012.

The $282 million increase in DCF for the year was driven by growth in fee-based revenues and lower maintenance capital spending primarily on lower required pipeline integrity projects and one time maintenance capital items in 2012 at our regulated entities. Expected business interruption insurance recoveries related to the Geismar olefin plant incident contributed $123 million to DCF in 2013, of which $50 million was received in the third quarter. These factors more than offset $297 million lower NGL margins.

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